The Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Mr Brennan, has said that the family courts have been insensitive to the needs of vulnerable fathers and in some cases have excluded them from access to their families when it is not in the children's best interest.
He said that State organisations, such as the courts, needed to be sensitive to the role of vulnerable fathers in terms of assessments of their ability to care for their children.
Fathers should not be excluded from this process unless there were good reasons to do so. "This might not have been the case in the past," he said.
Mr Brennan was making his comments at the launch of a report for the Family Support Agency on vulnerable fathers and their families.
The report, "Strengthening Families through Fathers", by Professor Harry Ferguson, of the University of the West of England, and Mr Fergus Hogan, of Waterford Institute of Technology, recommends an overhaul of the family law and social welfare systems to make them more father-friendly.
It also recommends that the criteria for obtaining the lone parent's allowance, which requires that the parent is not cohabiting, be changed.
Social and other care workers are found to be biased against the inclusion of men during family support or assessment work.
The study, in which 24 men, 10 mothers and 11 children were interviewed, finds that the system leaves many men feeling excluded.
The study focuses on "vulnerable" fathers, identified as those whose relationships have broken down or are in difficulties, or who have been affected by poverty, addiction and violence.
It finds that such men are at risk of being excluded as fathers and carers, even though they desire to have a strong role in their children's lives.
Mr Brennan said the findings made "it clear that we should be re-examining our attitudes to some fathers and their role in the family".